Scientists to use sea-faring drones to monitor ocean temperatures

CANBERRA: Australia’s peak scientific body has partnered with a company from San Francisco, the United States to “radically improve” its measurement and monitoring of Australian waters, China’s Xinhua news agency reported.

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) announced the collaboration with ocean technology start-up Saildrone yesterday.

Saildrones, an ocean-going drone, powered by the wind and sun and that can be at sea for up to 12 months, will be used by the CSIRO to collect information about sea-surface temperature, salinity and ocean carbon in Australian waters and the Southern Ocean.

Andreas Marouchos, CSIRO Research Group leader, said the fleet of three Saildrones would be controlled remotely from the CSIRO’s research facility in Hobart.

“This research partnership comes at a critical time for the marine environment, and at a time when technological innovation in the marine sector is booming,” Marouchos said in a media release on Thursday.

“Saildrones are long-range research platforms that can be sent to remote locations for an extended period of time, delivering real-time data back to scientists that was previously impossible to collect.

“The devices gather fundamental information about our oceans and climate using a powerhouse of ocean chemistry, meteorological and marine acoustic sensors. — Bernama